Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Only 11 weeks to go!

Today we had our 26 week ultrasound and our first non-stress test! Luckily he was cooperating through the ultrasound and we got some pretty good pictures :) Not as good as at 22 weeks, but I LOVE seeing our little man. He is measuring in the 53rd percentile (as opposed to Julian's 33rd) and is already a whopping 2 pounds 1 ounce! His heart rate was 147 and he is gorgeous!
Our stress test went well, he was moving around a whole bunch and kept trying to run away from the doppler. Finally, he just went right underneath it and kept kicking it! Ha ha ha! Then he went under the moniter that measures for contractions and kept pushing up on THAT one, so the computer interpreted it as me having contractions...which I wasn't...I think we're going to have our hands full! He's already so spunky, I love it!
Here are some pictures of our latest ultrasound:

His little profile in 2D

Here's an interesting shot...can you figure out what you're looking at? It's a picture of his nose, looking up his now-open nostrils!

And of course another foot for Aunt Liz :)



Look at that bicep!

And his beautiful face :) Does he look like an Oliver Nicholas Beer? That's the name we've agreed on so far...

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Happy 102nd Birthday Shadow!

Can you believe Shadow is 14?!? For her size, in dog years that is a little over 100 years old! I think that makes her officially older than dirt :) I know right now I look like one of those annoying dog people, and I know there's a part of me that IS an annoying dog person, but I thought because Shadow has doubled her life expectancy, she SHOULD get a party! Our sweet little Addisonian Belgian Shepherd has beaten all the odds with several Addisonian attacks, allergic reactions, and a case of spinal menangitis, and is so happy living with her two buddies, Chester and Daisy :)
Last night I made a heart shaped meatloaf as the "cake," and covered it in sour cream "icing." Isn't your mouth watering already? Ha ha! Yes, it's gross, but the dogs loved it, including the squiggle noodle details along the base of the cake and milkbone topping!


Everyone had to wear the appropriate party gear, of course...except Chester...you can see what he did with his princess crown! Ha ha ha!


Once Shadow made a wish and had help blowing out the candles, everyone got their own plate with a "cake" slice and a side of milkbone. That quickly turned into a very quiet but frenzied pile of slurping, eating, devouring dogs, and took about 45 seconds to inhale 2 pounds of beef! Of course, they had to play musical plates in that 45 seconds to make sure no one got something better than their own. Now, THAT'S my kind of birthday party...quick and to the point.

The only sign that anything had happened was a broken princess crown on the floor, and a smear of sour cream along Chester's cheek...Daisy soon took care of that.
Shadow disappeared into our bedroom and is happily sleeping off birthday cake :)

Happy Birthday old lady! We love you!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

It smells like...?


It started as a slight odor when we had a ton of BBQ, cucumber salad, and potato salad in our fridge, and unfortunately the tub of cucumber salad was leaky. After throwing out what we didn't eat and 409-ing the cucumber juice, the smell was gone. For a few days.

Then it decided to come back, and it came back with a vengeance!! Wow. What else could be in our fridge? Nich cleaned out any suspicious items including my beloved Brie cheese and some veggies that had seen better days. That seemed to do the trick. For a few days...

Then it was back AGAIN! So I changed out the little containers of baking soda with new little tubs of white powder that promised to make it all better. Some days it was gone, others, with the opening of the fridge, the entire house would smell like some kind of rotting thing from the bottom of a humid, mosquito-infested swamp.

After much complaining, Nich moved the fridge away from the wall, took off the back and pulled out the tray which is supposed to collect whatever strange things your fridge may be leaking...a squeeky clean tray, and a squeeky clean tube you're supposed to shoot water through, and an hour and a half later, the smell was still there. He threw away anything that could absorb odor, including pancake mix and flour which we keep in the fridge, don't ask why, we just do. That did the trick!

Until the next morning. I went to grab milk for my cereal and BOOM! Had I been wearing shoes, they would have been knocked off! I ate the cereal in my bedroom, the only place not infected by the stench, and then decided to attack this fridge! I emptied EVERYTHING onto the counters, washed all the drawers in hot soapy water and 409'd the entire interior. I even 409'd every hard surface that went back in including the containers of milk, juice, parmesean cheese, mustard, I mean everything got a disinfecting wipe down. The fridge stayed open for a good hour or two and aired out nicely! Everything went back in and it was delightful!

UNTIL...there is a slight odor in our fridge. I am convinced, there is only one explanation for this putrid stink that has decided to OCCASIONALLY visit my three year old GE refrigerator. If evil had a smell, it would smell like this, and if it had an attitude, it would only decided to show up at the worst possible time, like when you're starving or have people over. So, I have come to the decision that what is in my fridge is clearly the smell of evil!!

Any suggestions about what else we can do, apart from an exorcism and a blessing, would be greatly appreciated!